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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #95682
Title: CHICKEN LEPTIN (OB) MRNA

Author
item Ashwell, Christopher
item Czerwinski, Susan
item McMurtry, John

Submitted to: Genbank
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/19/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The product of the obese gene, leptin, has been shown to regulate appetite and energy expenditure in mammals. We have isolated and cloned leptin homologs from both turkey and chicken. Chicken leptin was obtained by amplification of both genomic DNA and mRNA isolated from liver and adipose tissues (GenBank AF082500). The predicted amino acid sequence of chicken leptin is >90% identical to mouse leptin and >80% identical to bovine, porcine, and human leptins. This sequence differs by a single nucleotide at position 342 from a previous chicken leptin clone reported by Taouis et al. 1998 (GenBank AF012727) likely due to different sources of birds. We have also cloned and sequenced the leptin homolog from turkey by amplification of total RNA isolated from liver. The partial cDNA for turkey leptin isolated (GenBank AF082501) contains the entire coding sequence of the mature leptin protein. The turkey leptin sequence is similar to that present in chicken (>95% identical) with five nucleotide differences. These differences result in three amino acid substitutions (Arg52Ser, Gln122His, and Ser134Leu) within the mature peptide and may indicate significant variance from chicken leptin. The cloning of these genes has facilitated many subsequent and countless future experiments on the understanding of food intake regulation in domestic birds.